According to P.W.Ball (in Tutin et al, Fl.Europ.2:135.1968), some authorities consider it to have originated in S.W.Asia and others in N.Africa. An alternative theory is that it has developed under cultivation from Vicia narbonensis L., which it closely resembles in many characters.

The garden or broad bean is cultivated for the edible seeds and immature legume and as fodder.